I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1351 

To amend the provisions of title 5, United States Code, relating to the 

methodology for calculating the amount of any Postal surplus or supplemental liability under the Civil Service Retirement System, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 4, 2011 

Mr. LYNCH (for himself and Mr. CUMMINGS) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

A BILL 

To amend the provisions of title 5, United States Code, 

relating to the methodology for calculating the amount 

of any Postal surplus or supplemental liability under 

the Civil Service Retirement System, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States Postal 

5 Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration 

6 Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MODIFIED METHODOLOGY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8348(h) of title 5, United 

3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(4)(A) To the extent that a determination under 

6 paragraph (1), relating to benefits attributable to civilian 

7 employment with the United States Postal Service, is 

8 based on any provision of law under subparagraph (C), 

9 such determination shall be made in accordance with such 

10 provision and any otherwise applicable provisions of law, 

11 subject to the following: 

12 ‘‘(i) The ‘average pay’ used in the case of any 

13 individual shall be a single amount, determined in 

14 accordance with section 8331(4), taking into account 

15 the rates of basic pay in effect for such individual 

16 during the periods of creditable service performed by 

17 such individual. Nothing in this subsection shall be 

18 considered to permit or require— 

19 ‘‘(I) one determination of average pay with 

20 respect to service performed with the United 

21 States Postal Service; and 

22 ‘‘(II) a separate determination of average 

23 pay with respect to service performed with its 

24 predecessor entity in function. 

25 ‘‘(ii) To determine the portion of an annuity at26 tributable to civilian employment with the United 


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1 States Postal Service, the appropriate percentage to 

2 apply under any provision of law under subpara3 graph (C) with respect to such employment is, in the 

4 case of— 

5 ‘‘(I) any period of employment with the 

6 United States Postal Service which follows 

7 ‘‘(II) any other period of employment cred8 itable under section 8332 (whether with the en9 tity referred to in clause (i)(II) or otherwise), 

10 the applicable percentage under such provision, de11 termined after taking into account any periods of 

12 employment described in subclause (II) which pre13 cede the period of employment (described in sub14 clause (I)) as to which the determination of the ap15 propriate percentage to apply under such provision 

16 is being made. 

17 ‘‘(B)(i) Not later than the date which occurs 6 

18 months after the date of enactment of this paragraph, the 

19 Office shall determine (or, if applicable, redetermine) the 

20 amount of the Postal surplus or supplemental liability as 

21 of the close of the fiscal year most recently ending before 

22 such date of enactment, in conformance with the method23 ology required under subparagraph (A). 

24 ‘‘(ii)(I) If the result of the determination (or redeter25 mination) under clause (i) is a surplus, the Office shall 


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1 transfer the amount of such surplus to the Postal Service 

2 Retiree Health Benefits Fund within 15 days after the 

3 date of such determination (or redetermination). 

4 ‘‘(II) If a determination under clause (i) is made be5 fore a determination under paragraph (2)(B) is made with 

6 respect to the same fiscal year, no determination shall be 

7 made with respect to such fiscal year under paragraph 

8 (2)(B). 

9 ‘‘(C) The provisions of law under this subparagraph 

10 are— 

11 ‘‘(i) the first sentence of section 8339(a); and 

12 ‘‘(ii) section 8339(d)(1). 

13 ‘‘(5) For purposes of this subsection— 

14 ‘‘(A) the term ‘Postal Service Retiree Health 

15 Benefits Fund’ refers to the fund described in sec16 tion 8909a; and 

17 ‘‘(B) the term ‘Postal Service Fund’ refers to 

18 the fund described in section 2003 of title 39.’’. 

19 (b) COORDINATION PROVISIONS.—(1) Section 8909a 

20 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at 

21 the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 

23 amount payable by the Postal Service under subsection (d) 

24 in any fiscal year ending on or before September 30, 2021, 

25 shall be determined as if section 2(a) of the United States 


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1 Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Res2 toration Act of 2011 had never been enacted.’’. 

3 (2) Nothing in this Act shall affect the amount of 

4 any benefits otherwise payable from the Civil Service Re5 tirement and Disability Fund to any individual. 

6 (c) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The heading for sec7 tion 8909a of title 5, United States Code, is amended by 

8 striking ‘‘Benefit’’ and inserting ‘‘Benefits’’. 

9 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8348(h)(2) of title 5, 

11 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(F) Notwithstanding any other provision of this sub14 section, for purposes of determining the Postal surplus or 

15 supplemental liability for each of fiscal years 2016, 2017, 

16 2018, 2019, and 2020, any determination under para17 graph (1) shall be made by disregarding paragraph (4)(A) 

18 and by instead applying the methodology that was used 

19 to carry out this paragraph with respect to the fiscal year 

20 preceding the fiscal year referred to in paragraph 

21 (4)(B)(i).’’. 

22 (b) RELATING TO A POSTAL SURPLUS.—Section 

23 8348(h)(2)(C) of title 5, United States Code, is amend24 ed— 

25 (1) by inserting ‘‘2021,’’ after ‘‘2015,’’; and 


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1 (2) by striking ‘‘if the result is’’ and all that 

2 follows through ‘‘terminated.’’ and inserting the fol3 lowing: ‘‘if the result is a surplus— 

4 ‘‘(i) that amount shall be transferred— 

5 ‘‘(I) to the Postal Service Retiree Health 

6 Benefits Fund, except as provided in subclause 

7 (II); and 

8 ‘‘(II) if the surplus is for fiscal year 2021 

9 or a subsequent fiscal year, to the Postal Serv10 ice Fund; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) any prior amortization schedule for pay12 ments shall be terminated.’’. 

13 SEC. 4. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN SURPLUS RETIREMENT 

14 CONTRIBUTIONS. 

15 Section 8423(b) of title 5, United States Code, is 

16 amended— 

17 (1) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para18 graph (6); and 

19 (2) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol20 lowing: 

21 ‘‘(5) If, for fiscal year 2010, the amount computed 

22 under paragraph (1)(B) is less than zero (in this section 

23 referred to as ‘surplus postal contributions’), the amount 

24 of those surplus postal contributions shall be trans25 ferred— 


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1 ‘‘(A) to the Postal Service Retiree Health Bene2 fits Fund to pay any liability to the Postal Service 

3 Retiree Health Benefits Fund for fiscal year 2011; 

4 ‘‘(B) if all liability to the Postal Service Retiree 

5 Health Benefits Fund for fiscal year 2011 has been 

6 paid, to the Employees’ Compensation Fund (as es7 tablished under section 8147); and 

8 ‘‘(C) if all liability of the United States Postal 

9 Service to the Employees’ Compensation Fund (as 

10 so established) has been paid, to the United States 

11 Postal Service for the repayment of any obligation 

12 issued under section 2005 of title 39.’’. 

13 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act and the amendments 

15 made by this Act shall take effect on the date of enactment 

16 of this Act. 

17 (b) INTENT OF CONGRESS.—It is the intent of Con18 gress that this Act apply with respect to the allocation 

19 of past, present, and future benefit liabilities between the 

20 United States Postal Service and the Treasury of the 

21 United States. 

Æ 


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